Qualitative and Interviewing

Question 1

Qualitative approaches:

Answer 1

The main qualitative research approaches you are likely to come across are phenomenology, grounded theory, and ethnography. There are similarities and differences between these approaches that will become clear to you as you continue to explore qualitative methods.

1. Phenomenology is concerned with the experience of and the meaning associated with a specific phenomenon. Here you can see how important it is to have a purposive sample. For example, if the phenomenon of interest in the research is the experience of self after a diagnosis of cancer, then your sample must comprise those who have had a diagnosis of cancer. Of course these findings will not be generalisable – generalisability is not an aim of qualitative research. Rather the findings will have applicability.
2. Grounded Theory is concerned with the development of theory to explain social phenomena. In this approach, the data collection and analysis are integrated so that the researcher can utilise what is found in the initial data to inform the collection of further data. Concepts (or themes) are identified in the data during analysis and these are classified into meaningful categories (this is referred to as coding). The researcher looks for ways in which these categories might be linked and tries to verify proposals that are made. From this process, a theoretical explanation for the phenomenon in question can be made and a formal or substantive theory can be developed.
3. Ethnography relates to organisation – how something is done and is based on direct observation. This approach has often been aligned with sociology and anthropology. The researcher observes (sometimes actively by taking part in the research) how a group of people might go about doing something. For example, the interest might be in how people hide sexual abuse. This would entail observing and experiencing the social contexts surrounding the phenomenon.

Question 2

Methods in qualitative research:

Answer 2

There are three methods associated with qualitative research include interviewing, observation, and document analysis.

1. Interviews can be structured where the same questions are asked of each participant (e.g. it might be important to make comparisons across responses in some cases), semi-structured where a researcher might wish to include certain topics in the interview, with specific questions but can then follow-up with anything interesting/relevant, or unstructured such as in narrative work or some phenomenological studies. Interviews can be face-to-face (or e.g. by phone) and can be one-on-one or in a group (such as focus groups). Each has a purpose and would be driven by the research question/s.
2. Observation can also be done in different ways. As we mentioned above, the researcher might see the importance to the study of actively participating in the activities of the group being observed. The observation can also be structured where the researcher observes the group in the least intrusive way to understand interactions that take place, activities that are undertaken and other areas of interest. The researcher might also be interested in observing ‘episodes’ – perhaps to assess people’s behaviour in different settings at different times.
3. Document analysis refers to the analysis of existing material. This can be in the form of a policy document, archived records, letters, field notes etc. They can provide the context/background of a study and can also form the basis for questions that researchers might want to explore.